Circular rib knitting machine and method of operating same



Feb. 20, 1940.

- J. GETAZ v CIRCULAR RIB KNITTING MACHINE AND METHOD OF OPERATING SAME Filed March 11, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR JAMES L. GETAZ BY HlS- ATTORNEYS Feb.'20,1940. J, Em- 2,191,378

CIRCULAR RIB KNITTING MACHINE AND METHOD OF OPERATING SAME Filed larch 11, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet z 10 v I00 3 d/ ,17 160 L l I I l f7 /72 INVENTOR JAMES L. GETAZ -BY HIS ATTORNEYS Patented Feb. 20,1940

PATENT OFFICE mm am KNITTING mcmnc AND METHOD OF ornm rmc SAME James L. Getaz, Maryville, Tenn, assignor to Scott & Williams,

Incorporated, Laconia,

N. 11., a corporation of Massachusetts Application March 11, 1939, Serial No. 261,324

.. 17 Claims.

This invention relates to circular rib knitting machines and methods of manipulating-same,

and more particularly to such machines when equipped in the dial with independent latch is needles. These needles may be either-the usual pivoted latch needles or compound needles such for example as disclosed in the reissue patents to Robert W. Scott, Nos. 15,740-1, dated January 28,1924.

One object of my invention is to produce rib dial independent latch needle hosiery machines adapted to make ribbed instep hosiery. The invention is an improvement on the ribbed instep machine of the Robert W. Scott Patent No. 16 1,641,554, dated September 6, 1927. It will be shown first embodied in the half hose machine of the Robert W. Scott Patent 1,641,101, dated August 30, 1927.

In the drawings,

m Fig. 1 is, a schematic plan view of the dial cams and needles of a machine of the wellknown Scott 8: Williams revolving needle cylinv Fig. 2 is a vertical view in enlarged section through one side of the dial taken on the line 2 of Fig. 1, and showing one of the first stages of 30 manipulation of an instep dialneedle during the revolution of the machine when the heel dial needles are transferring their stitches to their cylinder needles;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig.2, taken on the 3 line 3 of Fig. 1, showing a later stage of manipulation of a high butt instep dial needle which is retaining its loop in accordance with my invention while the low butt heel dial needles are transferring to the cylinder needles;

m Fig. 4 is a plan view of the pertinent partsof the dial cap associated with the dial of Figs. 1, 2 and 3 and showing the operating connection for the noveldial cams of my machine;

Fig. 5 is a schematic plan view of the dial 5 cams and paths of the dial needle butts for a modified embodiment of my invention using a pivoted latch needle I V Fig. 6 is a side elevation of a pivoted dial latch needle suitable for use in connection with the so dial cams of Fig. 5; while I Fig. 7 'is a diagrammatic plan view showin the arrangement of the high and low butt needles inth'edial. I It is desirable to knit seamless hosiery from .5 top to toe in-order to have a salvaged edge or a These two-part needles comprise the hook a and turned welt at thetop of the stocking, and in the case of ribbed hosiery it is especially desirable to knit from top to toe because the present day machines for knitting ribbed hosiery from toe to top have a greater number of wales in the ribbed 5 fabric than in the plain fabric. This is not true of ribbed hosiery made on machines which knit from top to toe. Heretofore there has been no way on the modern rib machine with dial for making stockings to knit fabric from top to toe where the stocking is to have a .ribbed instep, This is due to the fact that there was no known way of transferring the rib needles on one half of the stocking at the heel and on the other half at the toe. On the ordinary rib knitting machine with dial, no means were known of continuing to knit with the dial needles on the high butt or instep side after transferring the dial needle stitches on the heel side to the cylinder needles. I will first describe the preferred .form of the invention shown in Figs. 1 to 4. This embodiment is an improvement on the machines shown in the Scott Patents 1,641,101 and 1,641,554, abovementioned. In the drawings I have shown only the parts which are distinctively diflerent from the machine shown in Scott 1,641,101. In that patent there are the cylinder needles n and dialneedles made of two parts a and b which form the subject of the Reissue Patents 15,740-1.

.the castoflb operated independently of each other in a radial direction onthe dial D to cause knitting or transfer of the stitches 'to the cylinder needles as may be required. For this embodiment of my invention the hook and castofl comprising the dial needle are unchanged from that of the Scott patents, but the cams in the dial cap for manipulating the hook and castofl'. are diiferent and the manipulation itself is different. The manipulation of the cylinder needles is unchanged. p 1

In this machine of Scott 1,641,101 there are twice as many cylinder needles n as there are dial needles 0, b. (This is assuming the rib fabric is to be one and one) Every other cylinder needle is adapted to receive a dial needle loop when changing from rib fabric to plain fabric. These cylinder needles are the ones without jacks under them. It is the cylinder needles with jacks thereunder which are known as the ever active" cylinder needles. As seen, for example, in Fig. 2, each part of the two-part dial needle has its ownoperating butt. and as shown in Fig. 1 the operating butt of the castofi b is the radially outer of the two butts. The dial needles corresponding to the instep of the stocking have high butts and the needles corresponding to the heel side have low butts 11. and n The high operating butts of the instep needle hooks are designated by the character 11 and the high operating butts of the instep castotfs' are designated by the character n The dial cam cap which is seen from the bottom inFig. 1 is hollowed out to form a broad concentric groove defined by the two dotted lines it", the butts of both the castoffs b and hooks -a lying in this broad groove and being operated by the edges of same as well as by the cams lying between those two edges in the groove. The three principal cams for causing the dial needles to knit stitches are Nos. 10, 12 and 13, which are respectively the camlll for retracting the hook after it takes the yarn, the cam l2 for pushing out the castoif b preparatory to receiving the loop to be cast off, and the cam 13 for pushing out the hook a preparatory to receiving new yarn. The surface? H of the cam III also serves to push the castofi outwardly to cast off the old loop. This knitting cam group composed of cams l0, Hand 53 is preferably mounted on a small carrier block (see part 615 in Patent 1,641,101) which is vertically movable through the dial cam caps to move them into and out of position. The group of cams for causing the transfer motion of the castoff and hook of the dial needle is similarly mounted on a carrier which is verticallymovable into and out of operative relation with the butts. I will first describe the cams of this transfer group which are shown in Fig. 1, and thenthe manner in which they are mounted, as shown in Fig. 4. This transfer group consists of three cams: a cam 16 for pushing outwardly the hooks a of the dial' needles, a

cam I! for causing retraction of the hooks a and projection of the castofis b to transfer position, and a-special independently movable cam 20 located at a point between the cams l6 and I1. New cam 20 is adapted to pull the hooks a radially inward sooner than if they were allowed to travel to the cam I1, and this advancing of thetime at which the hooks are pulled inward is a crucial step in my novel method of manipulation of the needles, as will hereinafter be explained.

The transfer 'cams l6 and I! are mounted on a block 621 vertically movable in an opening in the dial cam cap (see Fig. 4). This block is normally held elevated by a spring and is depressed by a lever 6M operated by a thrust bar controlled by the main pattern drum, all as set forth in the Scott Patent 1,641,101. The cam 20 is vertically movable in an opening in the block 62!. This cam 20 is spring-pressed upwardly independently of cams l6 and I1, and has the neces- I sary guide 620, wire 523, etc. to keep it lined up properly. It is depressed by a lever system com- I prising a lever 6|8 connected to a path on the main pattern drum in the same manner as lever 6H for cam block 62!, the free end of this lever 6I8 overlying an arm 6|9 pivotally mounted on the front of the machine and connected to the stem of the cam .20. Depression of the outer end of the lever H8 will cause depression of cam 20. In distinction to cams l6 and H which, when they are in their operative position, are low enough to contact both the high and low butt castoifs and hooks of the dial needles, cam. 20, when in its'lowermost position, .-co ntacts only the high butt castofis and hooks.

It customary in circular hosiery machines to use high operating butts on the dial and cylinder needles corresponding to the instep side of the pick up the stitch on their front points .11.".

stocking, and low butt needles on the side corresponding to the heel and sole. This differentiation in height of .butt is availed of in connection with the manufacture of the heel and toe. This system is used in the machine shown in the Scott Patent 1,641,101 above mentioned, and also in the present invention.

Since it is desired in knitting from top to toe to transfer from the heel dial needles before the knitting of the heel is commenced, but not to stop the knitting with the instep rib needles until shortly before manufactureof the toe is begun, it is necessary to provide means and method of transferring from the low butt dial needles at and method of achieving the desired end without the necessity of providing individual selecting elements for each needle, using the ordinary transfer method. I achieve this end by varying the transfer movements of the instrumentalities involved in the operation. In the example now being described and shown in connection with Figs. 1 to 4 of the drawings, we are dealing with dial knitting instrumentalities composed of two parts having sliding relation to each other, and the cooperative movements necessary to eflfect transfer involve not only the proper relation between the cylinder and dial needles but also between the two parts of the dial needle itself, namely, the hook and the castoff. I have found that by varying slightly the time or manner of the movements of the hook and castofi relatively to each other, it is possible to prevent the trans fer operation being efiective. It is essential in the manipulation of the two-part needle of Scott 1,641,101 used here that the hook and castoff are positioned in a specific manner in order that the castoff may take the loop of yarn away from the hook and present it to the cylinder needle. If either part of the needle is not in its proper position at the time the other part passes this crucial point, the transfer from hook to castofi will not be effective. And I have further found that it is possible to advance the time of movement of the hook at this stage of the transfer operation sufliciently to cause the castofi to miss the yarn. This does not interfere with the location of the transfer cams which cause transfer on the low butt needles. Thus'tlie cams l6 and I! alone cause effective transfer from hook to castoff and from dial needle to cylinder needle, while the introduction ofcam 20' therebetween makes it possible to retract or pull the high butt hooks a in before the castoflfsb are advanced to It will be noted" by examination of Fig. 23 or Fig. 25 of Scott 1,641,101 that whenthe loop is down in the knitting hook of the portion a of the needle, as distinguished from up on the shank, the point 11. of the castoff cannot pick up the loop, and when the cam 20 retracts the hooks the pressure of the spring bands on the toothed sinkers in the machine pulls the stitches down into the knitting hooks n with the result that the castofl's cannot pick up the loops. This early retraction of the hooks results in the castoffs later being tion, is only long enough to engage the high butts n on the hooks of the instep dialneedles so that revolution of the machine with the regular transfer cams I6, I1 and the auxiliary cam. 20 in operative position will result in transferring the dial loops on the heel side ofthe stocking and simultaneously will cause ineffective operation of the dial needles on the instep side of the stocking so as to prevent loss or transfer of the stitches on those instrumentalities. The insertion of these cams is made by first inserting cams I6, I! and 20 far enough to engage the high butts and, while the high butts are passing through the cams, inserting-cams I6 and I! all the way so that they contact the low butts. Similarly the withdrawal of the cams I6, I! and 20 and the knitting cam group I0, I2 and I3, is accomplished in two stages in the obvious and well knownway after the low butt needles have been operated to transfer'their stitches. At the beginning of the heel, cam. group III; I2 and I3 is raised to clear the highbutt dial needles and is again inserted part way at the end of the heel to engage the high butt dial needles only to knit the instep.

The manipulation of the machine when the foot has been knit and the machine is ready to begin the toe is as follows. The cams l6, I1 are inserted far enough to engage the high butt instep dial needles only, while cam 20 is not inserted at all. The instep dial needles therefore go' through the effective transfer operation in cooperation with the corresponding cylinder needles. After the transfer operation, cam group I0, I2 and I3 is raised to discontinue knitting on the high butt dial needles and the transfer cams I6 and I! are raised above the high butt dial needles.

It is also possible for my invention to be carried out when the dial is equipped with pivoted latch needles rather'than sliding latch needles, and an example of this is shown in Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawings. In Fig. 6 is shown a form of dial latch needle which is suitable for use in transferring loops to the cylinder needles. The shoulder 21 is used to push outthe loop. Here again we are assuming that the machine uses high butt dial needles for theinstep portion of the stocking and low butt latch needles for the heel portion.

In Fig. 5 the arrows indicate the direction of movement of the needles. In this dial camlayout cams 22 and 23 are knitting cams and may be handled by a single block, as in the case of cams l0, I2 and I3 of Fig. 1. Cams 24 and 2B are operated independently thereof by a secondblock, and cam 25 is operated in that block independently of cams 24 and 26, in a manner similar to cam 20 of Fig. 1. By means of friction the dial needles stay in the innerrace or path when not in use. When the time arrives for transferring the heel dial needle loops, cams 24, 25, 26 are inserted in two steps, cams 24 and 26 contacting bothhigh and low butt needles while cam 25 contacts only the high butt needles. Cam 24 pushes all the dial needles out but not quite far enough to shed the stitches, after which cam 25 directs the high butt dial needles to the inner path or race. Meanwhile the low butt dial needies pass under cam 25 and engage the transfer cam 26 .which pushes the low butt dial needles out, causing them to shed and transfer their erate on the high butts only. and cam 25 is not inserted. In this way the high butt dial needles ride out cams 24 and 26-, .which causes the needles to shed and transfer their loops.

' It will be observed that in both these methods and machines I have obtained what might be termed selective transfer from dial to cylinder needles without requiring any change in the needle manipulation except when transferring. It will be obvious this selective transfer operation can take place at any point in the manufacture of a stocking or on any group or other selection of needles desired.

Many other variations which do not depart from the scope of my invention will occur to those Skllled'in the art.

What is claimed is:

1. In a circular hosiery knitting machine, independent cylinder and dial needles, high and low operating butts on said dial needles, means to knit rib fabric on cylinder needles and all the dial needles, in combination with means to transfer loops from the dial needles having low butts to cylinder needles and to continue knitting on,

the high butt dial needles.

2. In a circular hosiery knitting machine, a circle of cylinder needles, a dial, a circle of dial needles and operating butts of different heights on said dial needles, in combination with cam means to cause said needles to transfer stitches from dial to cylinder, and auxiliarycam means adapted to prevent dial needles, with one height of butt from transferring while passing through the transfer cams.

3. In a circular hosiery knitting machine, a

- needle cylinder, needles therein, a dial and independent knitting instrumentalities in said dial,

in combination with operating butts of two heights on said dial instrumentalities, cams to manipulate said needles and dial instrumentalities to transfer stitches from the latter to the former, and cam means in the dial adapted to vary. the transfer movements of the dial instrumentalities havingone height of butt so as to prevent transfer of the stitches on those instrumentalities only.

4. In a circular hosiery knitting machine, a needle cylinder and a dial, independent latch needles in said cylinder and dial and cam means adapted to manipulate said needles to transfer stitches from the dial to the cylinder, in combination with operating butts of two heights on' the dial needles, auxiliary cam means adapted to vary the manipulation of the dial needles having oneheight of butt so as to prevent transfer of the stitches on those needles only while all the needles pass through the transfer cams.

6. In a circular rib knitting machine, a cylinder and a dial, independent latch needles in said cylinder and dial and cam means adapted to cause. said needles to transfer stitches from dial tocylinder, in combination with auxiliary cam means adapted to vary the timing of the movement of certain dial needles to prevent presentation of the loops on said needles to the cylinder needles.

'7. In a circular rib knitting machine, a cylinder and a dial, independent latch needles in said cylinder and dial needles in said dial, each comprising a. hook and a castoff mov'able relatively to each other, cam means for said dial needles adapted to cause said needles to transfer stitches from dial to cylinder, and auxiliary cam means varying the hook and cast-off movements relatively to each other to prevent the cast-off receiving the loop for the transfer operation.

8. In a circular rib knitting machine, a cylinder and a dial, independent latch needles in said cylinder and dial needles in said dial, each comprising a hook and a castofi movable relatively to each other, cam means for said dial needles adapted to cause said needles to transfer stitches from dial to cylinder, and auxiliary cam means varying the timing of the hook and castoff movements relatively to each other to prevent the cast- 1 off receiving the loop for the transfer operation.

9. In a circular rib knitting machine, a cylinder and a dial, independent latch needles in said cylinder and dial, high operating butts on one .group of dial needles and low operating butts on others, in combination with. transfer. cams in 5 said dial adapted to give transfer manipulations to all said dial needles, and an auxiliary cam surface movable into operative relation with the high butt dial needles while those needles are" retain their loops while those needles are passing through the transfer cams.

11. In a circular rib knitting machine, a cylinder and a dial, independent latch needles'in 45 said cylinder and dial needles in said dial, each 'comprising a hook and a castofi movable relatively to each other, cam means adapted to effect the transfer of the loops from the hooks to the castoffs and to cause the castoffs to present 50 their loops to the cylinder needles for transfer, in combination with operating butts of two heights on said hooks and a special operating cam movable into operative relation with the high butt hooks only adapted to cause retraction of 5 the high butt hooks to cause same to retain their loops while passing through the transfer cams.

12. In a method of operating a circular rib knit ting machine having independent dial and, cylinder needles, the method of causing transfer of 6 dial stitches to cylinder needles on some of the I needles only, which comprises passing all the dial needles through transfer manipulations-and simultaneously varying the movement of certain of the dial needles to preventthem presenting 65 their loops to the cylinder needles for transfer.

13. In a method of operating a circular rib knitting machine having independent dial and cylin- .der needles, the steps of causing transfer, of dial stitches to cylinder needles on some of the needles only which comprises passing all the dial needles through transfer movements but varying the time of movement of selected dial needles with 5 relation to the other knitting instrumentalities so as to prevent those needles presenting loops to the cylinder needles. 7

14. In a method of operating a circular rib knitting machine having independent dial and 10 cylinder needles, the steps of causing transfer of dial stitches to cylinder needles on some of the needles only which comprises passing all the dial needles through transfer movements but varying thetime of movement of selected dial 15 needles with relation to the other knitting instrumentalities so as to prevent those needles presenting loops to the cylinder needles.

15. In a method of operating a circular rib knitting machine for transfer of stitches from dial to cylinder in which the dial needlesare two part needles, the stepsof passing all the dial needles through transfer manipulations but varying the time of transfer manipulations of the two parts of selected dial needles relatively to each other so as toprevent those dial needles presenting their stitches to the cylinder needles.

16. In a method of operating a circular rib knitting machine having independent dial and cylinder needles with operating butts of one height on the instep segment of the dial needles and of lesser height on the heel segment, the steps of passing all the dial needles through cams adapted to cause additional transfer movements while also manipulating the cylinder needles to receive the stitches, but simultaneously passing the segment of dial needles having the higher operating butts into contact with the cam which I changes the time of the transfer movements of those dial needles suficientlyto make such move- .ments ineffective, subsequently knitting a plurality of courses of plain fabric on the cylinder needles corresponding to the low butt dial needles and simultaneously knitting rib fabric on the side corresponding to the high butt dial needles, and thereafter causing normal transfer operation of the high butt dial needles to transfer their loops to the cylinder needles. I

17. In a method of vmanipulating a circular v rib knitting machine having two part dial needles therein in which the stitches can be transferred from the hook to the castoif only in specific radial positions of the hook, the method. of causing selective transfer of loops in the dial cylinder needles which comprises passingthe hooks and the castoffs of all the dial needles through the necessary movements to cause transfer of the loops from the hooks to the castoffs and presentation of the loops by the castoifs to the cylinder needles, in combination'with simultaneously causing the castoffs of selected needles to go through their loop-receiving movement at a time when the corresponding hooks are not in position to present the loops to the castoifs, whereby presentation of loops on those dial needles to the cylinder needles is prevented.

JAMES L. GETAZ. 

